Opening This Weekend: Thank Goodness September is Over!

The final weekend of September is upon and dare we say: not a moment too soon. Once October hits, real movies will start opening, but in the meantime we’re left with the rest of these September dregs. As we do every Friday, here’s a handy guide to the new releases.

Fame

What’s the story: Maybe the denizens of Fame actually will live forever. Based on the seminal 1980 Broadway musical, this updated version finds a host of talented newcomers attending a prestigious New York City performing arts school with the hopes of making it big. It’s like High School Musical without Zac Efron!

Who should see it: Rachel from Glee.

Surrogates

What’s the story: We can’t be the only ones who think the posters for Surrogates look like leftovers from the Fox campaign for The Sarah Connor Chronicles, can we? That aside, Surrogates seems like your typically lame sci-fi actioner, with Bruce Willis donning a bad wig and bored scowl to play a cop investigating a series of murders. Futuristic murders! That Jonathan Mostow—the man who once directed the brilliant B-movie Breakdown with Kurt Russell—has been reduced to this is somewhat disheartening.

Who should see it: Summer Glau.

Pandorum

What’s the story: According to one user comment on its IMDb page, Pandorum is “better than Event Horizon and Ghost Ship combined!” Um. The trailer for this scary space film co-starring Dennis Quaid and Ben Foster strives to reach the lofty heights of Alien. But since it comes from producer Paul S.W. Anderson—the man behind the aforementioned Event Horizon plus Resident Evil and Alien Vs. Predator—makes us think this will be decidedly less iconic.

Who should see it: Ripley and Newt.

Capitalism: A Love Story

What’s the story: Have you heard that Michael Moore has a new film? Man, this guy has to get out and do more press, otherwise people aren’t even going to realize! Anyway, unless you’ve been living in a cave, you know the drill: Mr. Moore turns his left-leaning eye towards the financial meltdown and finds no good guys amongst Democrats or Republicans. Prepare to be outraged.

Who should see it: Paul Krugman.

Also opening this weekend: Clive Owen stars in The Boys Are Back, Audrey Tautou plays Coco Before Chanel, John Krasinski gets Brief Interviews with Hideous Men and Tucker Max’s odious I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell will hopefully be ignored.